Shloka 53
Ārjava, Satya, and the Virocana–Sudhanvan Exemplum
Udyoga-parva 35
अनश्रिता दानपुण्यं वेदपुण्यमनाश्रिता: । रागद्वेषविनिर्मुक्ता विचरन्तीह मोक्षिण:
anaśritā dānapuṇyaṃ vedapuṇyam anāśritāḥ | rāgadveṣavinirmuktā vicarantīha mokṣiṇaḥ ||
Vidura sagt: Wer wahrhaft Befreiung sucht, stützt sich nicht auf das Verdienst der Gabe, noch hängt er am Verdienst vedischer Riten. Frei von Anhaftung und Abneigung wandeln sie in dieser Welt mit einem wunschlosen, ungebundenen Geist—ohne sich an Lohn als Grundlage ihres Handelns zu klammern.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation-oriented living is marked by inner freedom: one does not act for the sake of accumulating merit (puṇya) through charity or ritual, but lives without attachment and aversion, letting actions be unclaimed by desire for reward.
In Vidura’s counsel during the Udyoga Parva, he articulates a higher ethical-spiritual standpoint: amid political tension and impending conflict, he points to the ideal of the mokṣa-seeker—one who remains inwardly detached and unentangled in reward-seeking religiosity.